


If It's Any Consolation...

by CaptMickey



Category: Uncharted (Video Games)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, trash talk with tea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-20
Updated: 2019-11-20
Packaged: 2021-02-13 14:42:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21495952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptMickey/pseuds/CaptMickey
Summary: Victor Sullivan was many things, but never did he see himself as a marriage counselor.
Relationships: Elena Fisher & Victor Sullivan, Nathan Drake/Elena Fisher
Comments: 4
Kudos: 44





	If It's Any Consolation...

Victor Sullivan was many things. A pilot, an explorer, a treasure hunter, suave with the ladies (though a particular Drake would argue otherwise), but never did he see himself as a marriage counselor, that married lifestyle with the white picket fence and nine to five job just wasn’t his ‘thing’ so to speak.

That belonged to one Nathan Drake after he officially tied the knot to that journalist, Elena. And through many ups and downs, break ups, separations and trials and tribulations, Sully always felt a sense of pride when he saw Nate owning up to his mistakes and salvaging the relationship... even if it was because Elena and Sully were the ones who had to knock some serious sense into the kid. 

Which was why he felt so... what was the word. Ah, yes. Disappointed. 

He could’ve sworn that after their ordeals at Iram of the Pillars that Nate had finally gotten his collective shit together and work out the kinks in his and Elena’s relationship. Truth be told, he thought Nate would have gotten it together after Shambala, but he wasn’t going to point that out.

Elena did.

As soon as Nate and Sam left the room to do some more much needed research on Scotland, Sully clamped to his cigar and went to smoke on the balcony, the Italian breeze having a nice chill in contrast to the humidity was sure to be an excellent companion to the cigar smoke he was about to blow. 

The more he thought about the conversation they had, the more it ate at him that something about it was wrong. The fact that Elena wasn’t being told of what was going especially didn’t sit with him right. She was a clever girl who more than once proved herself as someone you didn’t want to be against. He learned that one the hard way the first time they met. Maybe, hopefully, Nate will realize it and will let the wife in on the details once Sam was asleep.

Hopefully.

\---

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case as Sam and Nate were off exploring the St. Dismas Cathedral. When Nate made no statements or remarks about Elena, Sully quickly pieced that Nate was going to be as stubborn as ever and not talk about her. Probably because he knew he messed up and being close to a cathedral was guilting the kid. God, he hope that was the case.

His phone buzzed and he looked over, seeing it was a message from the missing adventurer herself. No doubt she was catching on that something was off, she was-- is the brilliantly astute type that it made telling her anything other than the truth downright impossible. And if she was calling Sully, then yeah, he figured she was catching up to Nate's lies and truth be told, Sully was a bit relieved because if she figured out, well, no need to lie to her. And if he didn’t pick up the phone, her suspicion will only increase... truly, it would be a bad idea if he didn’t pick up the phone...

And Nate wasn’t here to stop him, either.

Answering the call, Sully took a seat in the pilot’s chair and smirked. “Elena Goddamn Fisher, it’s been ages.” 

“Hi Sully.” He could hear her doing that small side smirk of hers when she’s talking to him. “How are you?”

“I’m doing good, sweetheart, how are you doing?” He could go for a smoke right about now. 

“I’ve been alright... working on a new article for my editors.” Elena answered, sounding happy for only a brief moment. “Hey, Sully? I didn’t catch you a bad time, did I?”

“No, no not at all.” Sully leaned back into his chair. “Caught me at a downtime between jobs.”

“You with downtime?”

“A shocker, I know.” He Elena laughed and he couldn’t help but chuckle. “You okay?”

“I... yeah? Yeah. Um... actually, I have a question for you, if you don’t mind answering?”

She was going to ask about Nate, he was sure.

“Shoot.”

“Have... you heard from Nate these last few weeks?”

Bingo. 

“Uhh... depends, why?” He could hear her already piecing the puzzle together as she muttered ‘why’.

“I just... I can’t shake off this feeling that Nate is up to something and whether or not it’s good, I’m not sure and I don’t like sitting here not doing or knowing anything about it?” Elena confessed. “Ugh... I hate how I sound right now.”

He chuckled again. “Why not book a flight over to him?”

“You know, I was actually thinking that?” Elena said, sounding relieved, almost as if she was thinking the same thing. But knowing her, she was. Sully knew her too damn well. “But I don’t want to interrupt Nate if he’s busy.” 

“That’s fair. But if I were you, I say go for it, trust me, surprises will be good for Nate.” He encouraged.

“Hmm... yeah, that might... not be so bad...” She trailed off and he could hear distantly her clacking on her laptop. “I’ll check with him. I see a storm brewing over Malaysia so I should anyways call soon.”

“You know, sometimes I think you’re too good for him, Elena.” Sully jabbed.

“... sometimes, I think so too.” Elena jabbed back quietly.

At that, Sully broke into a hard laugh, undoubtedly hearing her trying the suppress a laugh as well.

\---

It did Sully good talking to Elena, it was nice to have a conversation with someone who wasn’t just rambling about nonsense. Not that Nate was a nonsensical guy, and he did have his fair shares of great conversations, but Elena was firm on the ground in reality.

Which is always good in Sully’s book with all this nonsensical banter about pirates he’s been subjected to for the last few weeks.

As he anchored his craft, he looked over and saw Nate on the phone, adjusting his holster as he was talking to undoubtedly Elena. She did say she would call and looking at his watch, it would have been probably late for her... so by simple observation, Nate did the first move. 

Maybe the kid was about to come clean? Sully thought.

“Yeah, right. Yeah, it uh... it grounded us for sure, you know... had some equipment failures... but, you know, no one’s hurt or anything.” Nate lied.

Sully shook his head as he walked passed Sam who was enjoying his cigarette, looking to not really care what was going on. A part of him was irritated with the older Drake’s attitude, but he also knew that Sam wasn’t there for their history either, so Sully couldn’t fault him for not batting an eye at the intricate web of lies Nate was producing. 

He looked over as he heard Nate jogging over from the pier towards them, pocketing his phone. And if he didn’t know any better, maybe there was a look of guilt on his face. Maybe. He couldn’t get such a good read because Nate quickly changed the topic.

“Right, so, we should get a jeep.” The younger Drake said. “Sully, know of any good places?”

“I know a few, though they tend to find ways to rip tourists off.” Sully shrugged.

“Well, maybe we should find ways to rip them off?” Sam raised a brow.

“We’re not stealing.” Nate glared at Sam, pausing for a moment. “At least... not as a first resort.”

“Just leave it to me, kid.” Sully sighed, going over to hail a taxi when he felt his phone buzz. Pulling the small device out, he looked over and saw it was a text from Elena.

‘Hey Sully’, it read, ‘Too tired to call, had a chat with Nate. He’s hiding something.’

Sully looked over and saw Sam and Nate talking about their pirate theory and quickly texted back.

‘I’ll call you when I get the chance. Get some sleep, sweetheart.’

‘Thanks, Sully.’

\---

The first thing that the trio did was go to their hotel room after haggling the renter for the truck. Being jet-lagged after a cross-ocean trip was definitely exhausting, especially when one of them was the pilot. 

Sam placed his bag on the bed alongside Nate and Sully’s before collapsing on his bag on the spring mattress, letting out a sigh of relief. “Finally... on a nice comfy bed.” Sam smiled.

“You were on a nice comfy bed in Italy.” Nate pointed out.

“True. But let me have this. Beds are a luxury for me after fifteen years with a crappy mattress the prison had to offer.”

The younger Drake was about to counter but saw the valid point Sam made and decided to not argue further, instead pulling out the various maps and clues they were able to gather and placing it on the table and walls for a better look over. 

Sully chuckled at their banter, amazed they were able to kick it back up like nothing has happened as he placed a cigar in his mouth. Pulling out the phone, he looked over at his last message with Elena and held the cigar in his fingers. “I’ll be outside if you need me, boys.” Sully said, seeing Sam give a thumbs up with Nate not even looking up from the maps.

“Alright.” Nate mumbled as he pulled out his journal.

Yeah, he’s too busy to notice, Sully thought and stepped outside the decent sized room. He did the math on the time difference and quickly sent a text to Elena. ‘Let me know if you’re up. Don’t want to wake you.’

A few minutes passed and his phone buzzed again.

‘I’m awake.’

‘Can I call?’

‘Yes.’

He moved over to the phone icon and dialed up the blonde, hearing the phone ring for a moment until finally there was the click and she greeted him on the other line.

“Hey, Elena.”

“Hi, Sully.” She sounded upset.

“Wanna talk about it?” He asked. Never in his life did he imagine he would find himself consolidating someone, let alone that someone be a woman and that woman was another man’s wife and that man being his partner.

Life was weird, he figured.

Elena took a deep breath. “It’s about Nate. I... think he’s lying to me.”

You have no idea. “What makes you say that?”

“The last phone call I had with him, it didn’t... it didn’t sound right? Like he was lying to me. And I know his ticks well enough by now, at least... at least I think I do. I want to trust him but I can’t shake off this itch that there’s something else and he’s lying.” Elena confessed. “God, I feel like crap even thinking like that.”

“No, don’t feel like crap.” Sully walked over to a bench just outside of the hotel and took a seat there, better to be out of ear range from the Drake Brothers. “I always go with my gut instinct when something feels wrong and it’s saved from a bind or eight, and if your gut instinct is that something is off, chances are... you may be on to something.”

He heard silence, until she spoke again, but quieter.

“I... also may have tracked his phone.”

“You what?”

“I got worried since it’s monsoon season and he didn’t pick up at first so I... I tracked his phone.” Elena winced. “It didn’t make sense since it said he was in Madagascar and for a moment I thought he lied to me and I got a plane ticket but then he called and now I’m not so sure?”

Now it was Sully’s turn to be quiet. Did she track Sully too? He couldn’t fault her for worrying, let alone track his phone down by using her journalistic skills. He inhaled a bit from his cigar and exhaled. “Listen, I lie a lot. And I mean... a LOT.” He began.

“Tell me about.” Elena mumbled, recalling their first meeting.

“But with that said, I don’t like lying to people I actually give a shit about. And I give a shit about Nate and about you--”

“I know, I did a shitty thing--”

“No, quite the opposite. You didn’t do a shitty thing at all. You’re worried and that’s natural.”

“W...what are you getting at?” She asked. “You’re not mad?”

“No... but you did remind me to watch my back.” He joked, hearing her give a small laugh. “Where’d you say you tracked Nate?”

“Madagascar.”

He was done lying. “Take the flight.”

\---

Closing the door behind him, Sully walked out of the tension-filled hotel room and made his way to the street where he saw Elena standing on the side of the street trying to grab a taxi, her face clearly tear-stricken and expressing an unfathomable amount of pain from the betrayal. He couldn’t blame her... considering he was the one that had essentially ratted Nate out and confirmed Elena's worst fears.

Sully cleared his throat, noting the blonde jumping slightly and looking shocked before very quickly noticing the old man and frowning.

“Go away.” She said and looked back at the street. 

“Ah... yeah, no. Not doing that.” He stood next to her.

“God...” Elena looked up at the night sky, looking for an answer of some kind and sagging her shoulders in defeat. "I just... I'm so angry." Her voice cracked. "I'm angry... and I just..." She looked to the floor. "God..."

It broke his heart seeing her like this. The usually quick witted, no-shits given and brilliant blonde looking so down and hurt... it wasn't right. It wasn't right since Italy and he knew that. Sully consolidated by placing a hand on her shoulder as he saw her shaking and pulled her into a hug. He knew she would be mad at him for that, in fact, he was half inspecting her to shove him and he wouldn't be mad at her for that. But instead, she didn't fight and rested her head on his chest, clearly trying to process her thoughts.

"C'mon, lemme at least get you dinner." Sully said in soft voice.

Elena nodded as Sully saw a car coming over and raised his hand up to stop the taxi, they had a long night ahead of them.

\--

Elena leaned over at the booth, a beer bottle in hand looking ahead at the countless bottles behind the bartender disregarding both her and Sully who was tapping a bit of his cigar into the ash tray and between them a plate filled with what both assumed was some kind of nacho dip yet neither of them dug into. She had long since finished wiping the tears from her face, but the blood shot puffy red eyes were indicating that she was, in fact, crying earlier. 

They've been like this for well over a few hours.

Finally, Sully glanced at the blonde. "So... wanna talk or nah?"

She, in turn, just looked at him, still visibly hurt by it all. "Talk about what, Sully? About how Nate has been lying to me for easily months? Or how he has a brother that he decided to not tell me, his WIFE, about? Or! Or talk about how you were in on the whole thing? Where do you want me to start talking about?"

Ouch. "Fair point." He inhaled a bit from the cigar before expelling it out of his lungs. "Though, in my defense, I didn't exactly NOT not tell you where he was. Just dropping bread crumbs for you to follow."

"Read the room, Sully." 

"Heh, sorry."

Elena took a swig from her beer bottle, looking at the wedding band around her finger. She was half tempted to rip the damn thing off her finger but instead she placed the bottle down and fiddled with the jewelry, frowning. Sully took notice of her sudden focus from him to the ring. "I just..." She spoke in a low voice. "I don't get him. I thought he would trust me enough to help, to be there to help him with whatever is going on with that... that--"

"Sam?"

She pointed at Sully to confirm. "And that's... that's another thing, why the hell didn't he tell me about Sam? You can't... you can't just drop 'oh yeah, by the way, I have a long lost older brother' YEARS into the relationship like it's an after thought. You know what that is?"

"Cowardice?"

"Bullshit." She took another swig. "That is bullshit. That's something you say... maybe a few years down the road in the initial phase of the relationship. Maybe." She looked at Sully. "Why didn't you tell me about him?"

Sully contemplated for a moment, taking in more of his cigar and then shook his head. "Didn't feel like my place to say. That... and anything before Nate met me is something I respect for him to decide when to talk about. IF he talks about it. It is a touchy subject, especially since he just reunited with someone he thought was dead."

"...I see." Elena mumbled, reluctantly respecting the older man's decision and reasoning. 

They stayed in silence for a bit longer, Sully letting Elena digest her thoughts and emotions until she spoke up again, not looking up from the ring.

"I seriously questioned if this relationship was worth saving, y'know." She said in a small voice. "I thought that this relationship was just... secondary to what Nate was really after. And after all those countless times I saved him or reasoned with him... those long nights we had talking about an us, I thought maybe he finally got it through his head that he didn't need to do things alone anymore. I... I even encouraged him to do the Malaysia job because I saw that he wasn't happy with fishing out garbage from the canal. Sometimes even offered him to join me when I write articles. Instead, I just get lied to and told that I'M the one getting emotional and over reacting to finding out that he lied to my face doing something we both promised each other to not do again. And then, after all that... he doesn't even have the gull to come get me himself."

"No offense taken." Sully shrugged.

Elena shook her head and rested her forehead on her hand. "God, I don't know what more I can do. I'm not sure if it's even worth fighting for anymore because I just feel like... like I'm always left behind or even disregarding. Maybe I should just call it quits."

Sully just sat there, not stopping her thoughts. When he saw that she was done and wiping her eyes, he placed his cigar down on the tray and leaned in close. "Elena, listen to me. You are, in every sense of the word, right. But to call it quits? I think you're a lot smarter than that to give up."

"It's not worth it, Sully. Clearly Nate doesn't care enough."

"I beg to disagree. I think he does care, but he is way to caught up in his head and thoughts and needs a.... friendly reminder to get a clue. He cares, but Nate is also dense enough to get himself either drugged up, captured and or shot at." Sully countered. "Listen, the kid is going to get himself in to trouble--"

"Let him, clearly he loves running towards it."

"Elena."

She lowered her head and shook her head. "Sorry."

He took a breath. "Look, I'm not saying we should forgive him... but we should rescue him from trouble so that way he'll have no choice but to face the music and hear what you have to say because what you have to say is important. And if he gives a little of a shit, he'll listen. And knowing that kid, it's been on his conscious at several points in the trip to tell you everything. I personally think he should've let you in on the whole thing, but I'm guessing the whole Alcazar thing had him so focused that--"

"Alcazar?" Elena mumbled and pulled out her phone.

"Yeah, Hector Alcazar." Sully confirmed.

"Hector Alcazar...." She muttered under breath as she typed the name and frowned. "The crime lord?"

"Yeah, Sam got himself tied up with Alcazar who wants in on the Avery treasure and if he doesn't come up with the money, Alcazar will come after him. So, yeah, I think Nate is focused on saving him."

"Oh... my God." The journalist looked up and scoffed. "This is so dumb."

Sully looked confused. "You lost me here, what do you mean?

"You've got to be..." She rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Alcazar is dead."

"What?"

Elena looked at Sully with a quirked brow and showed him the news article announcing the crime lord's death. "He died six months ago."

The old man sat there wide eyed as he took hold of her phone. "Dead? But... but that would mean--"

"It would mean..." Elena took back her phone. "That Sam is pulling on both your's and Nate's legs."

"Son of a..." Sully grumbled and picked up his cigar to take a massive drag from it. "And now he's with Sam on the way to find Libertalia."

"Liber--what?"

"Ah.... some pirate commie thing with a bunch of pirates banding together to--"

Elena shook her head. "Do you know how to get there?"

"What?"

"Do you know how to get Libertalia?" She asked firmly. 

"Uhhh.... yeah, I saw the map so I have a general idea, and with Shoreline--"

"Shoreline?!"

Sully gestured to Elena to keep her voice low and stubbed out his cigar. "Listen, the kid is gonna get himself into a lot of trouble and land in world full of hurt. And if you want to tell him how you feel, to let him know how badly he messed up..."

"We should rescue him." Elena finished, sighing and resting her cheek on her hand as she stared at the old man. "You're.... a lot wiser since the last time we talked."

"Heh, hey, with age comes wisdom."

"Maybe." She gave a small smirk before frowning again. Looking at the bottle she tapped her hand on the counter and stood up. "C'mon, let's go rescue the Drakes. Again."

Sully chuckled and stood up, placing a few bills on the counter for the bartender and told him to keep the change. "Let's. I'll fill you in on the details on the way there so you can be caught up on things properly."

Elena nodded and followed Sully out of the bar, watching him wave down for a taxi and cursing under his breath as one zoomed on passed the two. She looked down at the ring, still questioning the relationship, but she kept thinking on what Sully had said. She didn't need to forgive Nate... but she did need to rescue him. Because who else was going to save his ass if not her and Sully. "Hey, Sully?"

"Hm?" He looked to Elena.

"Thanks." She looked to the old man. "For... talking to me the entire time. I needed that."

Sully stared for a moment and smiled. "Of course. Still questioning things?"

She nodded. "Yeah... but with a bit of a clearer head." She shrugged. "Well, clear-ish. The beer didn't help but, not as angry as before."

"That's progress. And if it's any consolation, I'm on your side with this fight."

Elena laughed as she raised her hand up and hailed down a taxi.

"Let's get going then." She said. "Nate's in it for an earful." 


End file.
